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Dozens of new athletes at the Turkish Training Camp

From 16th to 27th November Turkish Rafting Federation is organising a successful Training Camp in collaboration with Minister of Youth & Sports of Turkey, Rize Governorship and Ardeşen Governorship.

The training camp is taking place on the shores of the Black Sea, in Ardeşen town, a district of Rize Province, focusing on the basic techniques of our water sport.

120 young rafters (U19 cathegory) and trainers from all over the country (Şırnak, Bingöl, Hakkari, Van, Ordu, Erzurum and Elazığ) are paddling everyday in R4 teams, sharing experiences and discovering and developing the rafting movement.

Athletes and trainers with international experiences are introducing dozens of young athletes to the river world.

A month full of rafting for Turkey's athletes

After the first Turkish Cup held in Beytüşşebap-Şırnak two weeks ago, Zap river hosted the second stage of the National Rafting Championship near the historical mountain town of Hakkari, south of Lake Van near the border with Iran and Iraq from 25th to 30th October 2020.

Minister of Youth and Sports of Turkish Republic Dr. Mehmet Muharrem KASAPOĞLU joined the event. After a speech during the opening ceremony he paddled the river Zap with the President of Turkish Rafting Federation Fikret YARDIMCI, 1700 meters above the sea.

Out of 25 Men, 11 Women and 10 Mix teams, these are the names of the winners:

U19 Man: Van-Catak Belediyesi Spor Kulübü-A Takimi

U19 Women: Tunceli Yurdum Spor Kulübü

Open Man: Antalya Manavgat Spor Kulübü

Open Women: Tunceli Genclik Spor Kulübü

Mix: Antalya-Manavgat Spor Kulübü-B Takimi

Two Ministers paddled on Habur River, attending the Turkish Rafting Cup

From 7th to 11th October 11 Men, 5 Women and 5 mix teams took part in the Turkish Rafting Cup on the II level river Habur, located in the small town Beytüşşebap, Şırnak, in the South East of Turkey. The limited attendance caused by the current pandemic situation did not compromise a successful and promising event.

Turkish Minister of the Interior Mr. Süleyman Soylu and Minister of Youth and Sport Mr. Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu attended the opening ceremony and paddled on the river for the first time, encouraged by the athletes and the President of the Turkish Rafting Federation Mr. Fikret Yardımcı who declared the river Habur and Beytüşşebap ideal for developing extreme nature sports such as rafting. Considering this potential local authorities of Beytüşşebap will invest in rafting, looking forward to host a similar event in the future.

Mr. Fikret Yardımcı very satisfied with the development and outcomes of the competition, congratulates the winner teams:

Man Category: İstanbul Üniversitesi Spor Kulübü

Women Category: Tunceli Gençlik Spor Kulübü

Mix Category: Muğla'dan Sarsala Spor Kulübü

15 rafts paddling for the European Mobility Week in Tunceli

Since 2002, European Mobility Week has sought to improve public health and quality of life through promoting clean mobility and sustainable urban transport.

The campaign gives people the chance to explore the role of city streets and to experiment with practical solutions to tackle urban challenges, such as air pollution.

Tunceli is one of the 551 Turkish cities (2943 cities in total, from 53 different countries) that took part to the event this year; on Tunceli’s river, Munzur, that hosted several National Rafting Cups and the WRF World Rafting Championship 2019, 10 Men and 5 Women teams joined a 6 km Down River Marathon organised by the Turkish Rafting Federation on 23rd Semotember.

The governor Mehmet Ali Özkan with local authorities and the President of the Turkish Rafting Federation Fikret Yardımcı awarded the medals to

Women:

1. Tunceli Gençlik A Takımı

2. Tunceli Gençlik B Takımı

3. Tunceli Spor Lisesi

Men:

1. Palu Belediyesi Takımı

2. Bingöl Genç Murat Takımı

3. Tunceli Gençlik A Takımı

It was the first national event since the pandemic and it has been smooth and successful, respecting all the Covid-19 restriction, therefore Turkish Rafting Federation is going to organise a Turkish Rafting Cup from 7th to 11th October in Şırnak Province - Beytüşşebab on the river Habur.

WRF confirms the first Championships of revised 2020/2021 calendar

After racing was put on hold because of the coronavirus outbreak, WRF Board and National Rafting Federations have been working to put together a plan to allow the season to begin safely.

The opening competitions of a revised calendar for the 2020/2021 season were discussed throughout this challenging time and WRF Board outlined the international season start.

The Continental Championships will kick off in Costa Rica: Alexander Segura Amador, President of the Federación Costarricense de Rafting, will host and organise the Pan American Rafting Championships 2020, previously scheduled in Argentina and delayed due to the COVID-19 situation.

The first week of February 2021 a III+ class river in the Manuel Antonio National Park, Quepos, on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast, will welcome Senior R4 teams representing the countries attending from the whole American Continent.

Article updated on 29/08/2020

Bulgaria gets the gold at the European Cup in Kosovo

For the third year in a row Zubin Potok hosted the European Rafting Cup, from 11th to 13th September on the middle course of the Ibar river,

Kosovo 2020 has been the first international competition organised after lockdown, it has been challenging but successful.

9 teams from 4 nations competed in the 3 disciplines: with 2 gold medals in Slalom and Downriver and a bronze in the RX, Rafting Team Respect 1 from Bulgaria took the First Overall place.

The RX winners from Croatia, Rastočki Mlinari, celebrated the second step of the podium, while the Overall Bronze went to the second team from Bulgaria, Rafting Team Respect 2.

Albanian Ministry and Rafting guides: the Albanian Federation steps forward into the Training Programme

The best known destinations for fluvial tourism and the starting point for the debate about river security in Albania are the scenic Osumi and Vjoses coasts.

On 28th December 2018 the Albanian Rafting Federation gave the first input to create a National programme for the official qualification of river guides on the whole Albanian territory, rich in natural beauty from the mountains to the Ionian and Adriatic Seas.

After almost two years of joint effort the Minister of Tourism and Environment Blendi Klosi and the Minister of the Economy and Finance Arben Ahmetaj finally agree on how to proceed with the Albanian Rafting Federation. The certification to work with tourists, leading them to discover the fluvial activities of rafting, kayak, canoe, hydro speed and canyoning, will be released by the Minister of Tourism and Environment after attending a 320 credits course held by the National Rafting Federation. After the training course, a theoretical knowledge examination and a practical test will regularly prove the validation of the guide’s skills and guarantee a standard safety to the river tourists ensured by the cooperation with organs of national security.

Beyond the important local achievement, it also represents a step forward from an international perspective, joining the aim of the WRF Training Programme to implement a worldwide system, sharing experiences and knowledges to improve the international mobility in the river world.

Siberia crowns the 2020 National Champions of Russia: successful restart after the Covid-19 outbreak

After almost six months out of the water, isolation and restrictions because of the Covid-19 outbreak the Russian Rafting Federation organised the first 2020 competition from 20th to 25th August.

Altay Republic hosted the National Championship, brought together most regions of Russia and showed the strong desire of the athletes and the Federation to keep developing our river sport.

Despite the challenging worldwide situation, more than 50 teams took part to the competition where the highest level of safety and protection were provided by the RRF.

Catun river crowned Nikita Zhuravlev, Vladimir Kazanskiy, Vladimir Ananev and Ilya Lukyantsev as the 2020 National Champions of Russia in the Men category.

The Women winner team is composed by Malahova Vera, Kozhanova Ekaterina, Kozhanova Valentina and Chugunova Tamara.

“We are really proud to announce that RRF is successfully pushing Covid-19 out of the river and country” declared the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Aleksey Shirokov, “Your turn Next, Rafting World!”

WRF welcomes a new country from Asia

The Canoe-Kayak Federation of the Republic of Tajikistan has been officially recognised as Full Member by the World Rafting Federation (WRF) Executive Board, which convened in Rome for a board meeting on 15 June.

“According to the World Rafting Federation's programme to develop Rafting around the world and help new and interested countries in the sport developement, I am working to make it happen in Asia. I am glad that Tajikistan joined our international movement as a new member last week.
We have always been ready to cooperate with all the new and developing countries and after the Corona pandemic we are more motivated than ever to resume the organization of our worldwide projects, not only the competitions that we are waiting all together but also training camps for young athletes and courses for new guides and coaches” said WRF Executive Board and Responsible for the development of the Asian Council, Mr. Hadi Ghazi Asgar.